New Year Celebration in Taiwan Shared As Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony
The Claim
The video below depicts fireworks during the Tokyo Olympics 2020 inauguration ceremony.
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The claim went viral, particularly on Facebook, during the rescheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympics in summer 2021.
Misbar’s Analysis
We conducted a reverse image search using stills from the video and found that it’s actually from a New Year’s Eve fireworks show in Taiwan. The Taipei 101 annual fireworks show still went on in January 2021, despite concerns about crowds during the pandemic. The fireworks show was called “Embrace the World with Love; Ignite the Future with Hope.”
This isn’t the first time we’ve fact-checked a claim about fireworks at the Tokyo Olympics.
The opening ceremony this year did include a fireworks display, just not the one depicted in the viral video. The actual display is below.
Additional reporting by Suzy Woltmann
